Marking and cutting drywall is a common necessary step of many construction projects. Due to the rising cost of construction labor and tools, more convenient tools that can be operated more quickly and efficiently are always needed. The need for a convenient, simple and quick means of scoring and cutting drywall is apparent.
In the past, in order to mark and cut drywall, one needed to use a measuring device to measure the appropriate cutting distance and second, cut through the face paper and score the drywall core along the measured cutting distance. These two steps required the use of two independent and unrelated tools. This process necessitated carrying more tools, and it also required more time to carefully mark and cut drywall.
Prior art devices in this area include the device shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,107,426, which discloses a utility knife device with a retractable razor blade. Other prior art discloses independent means for scoring drywall.
The present invention has significant advantages over those shown in the prior art. The present invention provides a means for attaching a measuring device above the toothed cutting wheel, such that the operator can hold the measuring device in one hand while operating the present invention in the other hand. This allows the operator to measure the cutting distance and score the drywall with the toothed cutting wheel of the present invention simultaneously. After the drywall has been scored, the board is snapped back and the toothed cutting wheel is then used to cut the face paper on the back side.
There are two main advantages of the present invention over those shown in prior art. First, the measuring device receiving means allows the operator to more quickly and accurately measure and score the drywall. Second, the convenience of housing a razor cutting blade and a toothed cutting blade in one device allows the operator to use the same device to score and cut the drywall. Thereby, the operator can quickly do the job with one device instead of two. The toothed cutting tool essentially eliminates the need for utility razor blades used in the drywall cutting procedure. In addition, since the toothed wheel is rolling as it cuts, cutting the drywall is much easier than using a non-rolling blade which creates friction and thereby becomes dull.
There are other advantages of the invention over the prior art that will become more apparent after reading the description and claims which follow.